Willing and Wanting are Two Different Things | Sober and Unashamed

When we surrender, we signal defeat. This is one of the main reasons for the dismal recovery rates from traditional alcoholism recovery methods in our society. Humans don’t want to be losers. That’s not how we are wired. Surrender feels hopeless and helpless. Surrender feels like the end.

My recovery from high-functioning alcoholism wasn’t about surrender. It was about changing teams and continuing the fight. The success of my permanent sobriety has a lot of contributing factors. Recovery is complex and individually unique. But in the end, the most important thing I did was to change my mind.

Tom Brady changed teams, and look how that worked out. For our readers who don’t follow football, Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl in February — the first six with the Patriots, and this last one with his new team, the Buccaneers. He changed teams, and kept on fighting. He is widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time, and is admired for his work-ethic and commitment to a strict personal health regimen. Of course, then he got obnoxiously drunk during the team celebration, so maybe he’s not the best example for an article about finding lasting sobriety. But he is mostly sober, and not because of an addiction issue, but because he knows a sober lifestyle is absolutely vital to his football success. And…